How to understand the differences between Chinese and western views on nature

1 How to understand the difference between Chinese and western views on nature refers to people's fundamental views on nature, which shape the characteristics of a certain cultural system. Due to the different living environment, Chinese and western people have different knowledge and understanding of nature, and the two different views on nature have different performances and influences. Understanding, comparing and studying the different views of nature between the East and the West is not only conducive to our understanding of the past history, but also conducive to the present and future development of our society. In ancient China, people regarded nature as a universal and constantly moving whole, thus forming simple natural views such as "Yin-Yang Theory", "Five Elements Theory" and "Yuan Qi Theory". In ancient western countries, people thought that nature was the unity, opposition and opposition of movement and stillness. Such as "Socrates' moral theory", "Plato's ideal world" and "Aristotle's natural theory". The attitude of the eastern world, represented by China, towards nature since ancient times is to advocate nature, not to go against fate, to let nature take its course, and to think that people get along with nature, and everything in the world is constantly circulating and multiplying. For example, in Taoism, "Tao gives birth to one, life to two, life to three, life to all things, and all things return to the Tao." "Ancient thinkers in China have always had a mysterious feeling about nature, and rarely mentioned understanding and transforming nature, but mostly based on the exploration of the inner subject of human self. The sage thinks that he can realize the unity with heaven and earth by carrying forward a supreme masculinity in the subject's heart. Westerners, represented by Europe, think that man and nature are opposites and are used to separating them. People's thinking is an objective thing independent of nature, which pays attention to people's exploration of nature. They believe that people can transform and even conquer nature through struggle and hard work. Their understanding of the relationship between man and nature has the following characteristics: First, there is a dichotomy between subject and object. They think that spirit and matter, subject and object, man and nature are fundamentally different fields, which leads to the question of how the subject knows the object and how human beings conquer their own nature. Second, advocate the supremacy of human reason or the omnipotence of natural science. It is believed that human beings rely on science and reason and have unlimited ability to conquer and transform nature. Nature is only the object of human conquest and transformation. Although the specific personal strength is limited, the human strength is infinite. In the process of changing nature, difficulties that cannot be overcome today will be overcome in the future. The reason for the difference between Chinese and western views of nature is: 1. Geographical environment affects the view of nature. China has lived in the Yangtze River and Yellow River Plain for a long time, where the land is fertile, the climate is mild and suitable, and it is suitable for agricultural planting. Orientals have lived in this environment for a long time, and over time they have formed the national character of farming. People only need to follow the changes of seasonal climate and sow and harvest on time. You can have enough food and clothing. This relatively comfortable life has developed the concept that people worship and submit to nature. In addition, Taoist and Confucian theories such as "Everything originates from Tao, and everything is unified", "Harmony between Man and Nature" and "Harmony between Man and Nature" have strengthened the relationship between man and nature. Europe is mountainous and plain with a cold climate. In this environment, farming is not suitable, and people have always regarded it as. Moreover, we have to fight against the harsh environment of nature every day. If people want to survive, they must face nature, fight against nature and win. Under such conditions, it is difficult to get any prayer in return. Over time, people and nature have formed an antagonistic relationship and formed a different view of nature from the East. 2. Implication and publicity, to some extent, the geographical environment has caused people's different ideas. But more people have different personalities, and many times thoughts are slowly precipitated through personality and expression. Therefore, the character of a nation may better explain the characteristics of a civilization. The closeness of China's geographical environment doomed it to be reborn in the cycle of "long separation and long separation". For a long time, people have formed a natural view that the world is a big cycle, and feel that Tao has existed since ancient times. And it is "very", there is no need to find and study. For thousands of years, the Central Plains, like ink infiltrating into rice paper, gradually opened up new territory around it and spread the population. The social form of Europe is city-state democracy, and citizens have the right to pursue truth, goodness and beauty through public debate, and are rarely bound and imprisoned. European philosophers are free to give full play to their innovative thinking in an environment that advocates convincing people by reasoning and does not accept unproven "absolute authority". 3. The person in charge of knowledge determines the democratic view of nature. Since ancient times, emperors in China have claimed to be the sons of heaven. In all cases, whether the enslaved thought in the people's consciousness is deeply rooted because the people are not in charge of knowledge, this is also the essential factor for China to produce an imperialist view of nature and Europe to produce a democratic view of nature. In ancient Europe, pinyin was used. Knowledge is no longer monopolized by the privileged class. The confrontation between all knowledgeable and conscious citizens and royalty and nobility has produced a democratic view of nature in European society. Although Chinese civilization has long been ahead of the West, China's view of nature is still insufficient. People ignore the power of human beings, overestimate the power of nature, underestimate the power of human beings, and naturally ignore the self-cultivation of human beings because of their long-term worship of nature. It has caused people to settle in different places and not seek progress. In addition, this comfortable living environment and excessive worship of nature have also led to some defects in the character of China people. Compared with Europeans, China people are easy to satisfy, lack initiative, lack ambition and have poor abstract thinking ability. They also lack the spirit of exploring and specializing in nature, which is one of the reasons why China civilization will gradually lag behind the West in the future. 3. From the perspective of natural science, the influence of natural concepts on them. Although China has four great inventions, due to people's narrow understanding, these scientific achievements are confined to the application field, and there is no systematic theoretical framework and theoretical guidance. And these are almost all formed by people's accumulated experience in daily life. In the west, on the contrary, because people have developed enterprising, competitive and keen on exploration and research, after the four great inventions were introduced to the west, with people's efforts, a series of advanced inventions in China, such as movable type printing, navigation compass, musket and guns, appeared, and they were used properly and played a huge role. The humanities are also influenced by the concept of nature. In the East, it has always been based on the thoughts and will of the rulers, even the essence of China's traditional culture-Confucian culture is no exception. However, the West experienced the Renaissance because of its enterprising and competitive spirit, and many theoretical works provided a reliable theoretical basis for future democracy. Although China's view of nature of "harmony between man and nature" is not perfect, the opposite view of nature in the West also has its limitations. Influenced by the view of nature that man is opposed to nature, people are proud of conquering and transforming nature, but they ignore some natural laws that cannot be violated and transformed. They only know how to ask for rewards and protection, which leads to serious mistakes. Now, it doesn't matter who is better or worse between China and the West. On the basis of summing up the past experience and lessons, people have come to a reasonable conclusion of dialectical and unified view of nature. Both China and the western view of nature have made great contributions to human progress. At the same time, we should continue to pursue a view of nature that is more suitable for the current social development. Only in this way can society continue to develop and human beings continue to make progress.